Flotsam from Japanese tsunami reaches West Coast

PORT ANGELES, Wash. (AP) — Debris from the March tsunami in Japan has started reaching the West Coast.

A large black float about the size of a 55-gallon drum was found two weeks ago by a crew cleaning a beach a few miles east of Neah Bay at the northwest tip of Washington state.

Seattle oceanographers Curtis Ebbesmeyer and Jim Ingraham say it's the first piece of debris that could be identified as washing up on the West Coast from the March 11 tsunami. The floats have since been found on Vancouver Island.

The two researchers displayed the float Tuesday night in Port Angeles at a presentation at Peninsula College.

The Peninsula Daily News reports (http://is.gd/9jSz9q ) larger amounts of debris from Japan likely will begin washing ashore in about a year. The float traveled faster because it sits on top of the water and caught the wind.